Youssef Cherif

Youssef Cherif is the Director of Columbia Global Center Tunis and a political analyst specializing in northern African affairs. He is a Global Academic Associate of RENPET (an Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network), an Associate Member of the African Studies Centre at Leiden University and the Columbia Institute of African Studies. He serves on the international board of the Columbia Arab Alumni Association. He is also a member of Carnegie’s Civic Research Network, the National Committee of ICOMOS Tunisia, and the Advisory Council of IEMed’s Mediterranean Annual Yearbook. He regularly contributes to the work of think tanks focusing on the region.

Previously, he managed the Al-Maidan Libya Project at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and was affiliated with the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies (ITES, Presidency of the Republic of Tunisia). He has consulted for several international organizations including the Arab Institute for Business Managers (IACE), the United Nations, and The Carter Center.

Youssef is a researcher at Leiden University’s Institute of Area Studies. He holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, earned through the Chevening Scholarship, and a Master of Arts in Classical Studies from Columbia University. He first arrived at Columbia as a Visiting Scholar before receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue his Master’s degree.

He frequently writes and provides commentary for international media, including Al Jazeera English, France 24, BBC, and leading think tanks such as ISPI, IEMed, IAI, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was also a World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Shaper.